Rabbi Stephanie Kramer
Email
(913) 663-4050
Rabbi Stephanie Kramer began as our senior rabbi at The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, in 2021. In her previous role as associate rabbi at Congregation Shomrei Torah, a Reform congregation in Santa Rosa, California, Rabbi Kramer led the entire Sonoma County Jewish community with grace and dedication during the 2017 Northern California Wildfires, earning her the moniker the “fire rabbi.” Rabbi Kramer’s rabbinate is filled with counseling, pastoral outreach, liturgical creativity and governance. She understands that one of the primary reasons members stay connected to their congregation, and to one another, is interpersonal relationships, and she is honored to work with families through their most joyous moments, hold their hands during their most difficult times and help her community find deeper meaning along their journeys.
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She is an innovator, collaborator and natural connector who cultivates creative models for community-building and dynamic ways to integrate Judaism into our lives. Along with her daily pulpit responsibilities, Rabbi Kramer enjoys supporting the broader Jewish community through her work on local and national boards and committees, including her work on the Board of Trustees for the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the Rabbinic Association of Kansas City.
Rabbi Kramer was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and holds a master’s degree in Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Houston. She is a senior rabbinic fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute, an alumna of the Clergy Leadership Incubator and in the inaugural cohort of an all-female fellowship, Voices for Good. Rabbi Kramer is currently the Vice President of Leadership for the Central Conference of American Rabbis the Vice President of the Kansas City Rabbinical Association.
Rabbi Kramer’s writing has appeared in The Washington Post, eJewish Philanthropy and The Press Democrat. She and her husband, Adam Kramer, have two children, Micah and Noa.
Rabbi Caitlin J. Brazner
Email
(913) 663-4050, Ext. 203
Rabbi Caitlin Brazner serves as Associate Rabbi at Congregation B’nai Jehudah in Overland Park, Kansas, where she is passionate about helping people of all ages find meaningful connections to Jewish life. Her rabbinate centers on building relationships, creating engaging opportunities for lifelong Jewish learning, supporting individuals and families through life’s most significant moments, and inspiring communities to put Jewish values into action.
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At B’nai Jehudah, Rabbi Brazner’s portfolio includes adult education, social action, youth engagement, and pastoral care. Whether she is leading a classroom discussion, accompanying a congregant through illness or loss, mentoring teens, or mobilizing the community around issues of justice and service, she believes Judaism is most transformative when it is lived with curiosity, compassion, and purpose.
Rabbi Brazner was ordained by the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in 2022, where she earned a Master of Hebrew Letters, as well as a Master of Education. Before entering the rabbinate, she spent five years working in Reform congregations and at URJ Camp Harlam. She also participated in AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps, an experience that continues to shape her commitment to social justice and the Jewish imperative to repair the world.
Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Go Packers!), Rabbi Brazner is a proud graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison (Go Badgers!). She and her husband, Scott Larsen, live in the Kansas City area with their dog, Pig.
Rabbi Rachel Rothstein
Email
(913) 663-4050, Ext. 202
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Rabbi Rothstein studied on HUC’s Los Angeles campus and was ordained in May 2022. During her time as a student, she interned for a congregation in Victorville, California, Temple Akiba in Culver City and Beit T’shuvah, an organization in LA meant to help people in recovery that reinterprets the 12-step model through a Jewish lens. Prior to rabbinical school, Rabbi Rothstein worked in Cincinnati’s Jewish community to provide engagement opportunities for unaffiliated interfaith families, young Jewish families and young Jewish professionals. At B’nai Jehudah, you will find her co-leading Tot Shabbats as well as programs for families with babies and tots, outreach opportunities for those in the congregation as well as folks in the general Jewish community and leading the Temple’s Small Group initiative.
Rabbi Emeritus Arthur P. Nemitoff
Having grown up in the congregation, Arthur P. Nemitoff returned in 2003 to assume the spiritual leadership of The Temple Congregation B’nai Jehudah. With expertise in the areas of death and dying, liturgy and synagogue transformation, Rabbi Nemitoff has dedicated his rabbinate to helping individuals discover their own Jewish paths.
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Dozens of his articles, poems, creative liturgies and three books have been published over his 30-year career. His hobbies include photography and poetry. After graduating from Southwest High School in Kansas City, he attended Washington University in St. Louis and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. He was ordained from Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion (Cincinnati campus) in 1981.
He has served congregations in Houston, TX; Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA and Columbus, OH before returning home to B’nai Jehudah. He has a passion for spreading the message of liberal Judaism throughout the world, having worked with Jewish communities in Serbia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Ethiopia and Israel.
He is married to his beautiful life-partner, Leslie. Together, they have two children, Elana and William.
To view his CV, please click here (view PDF).
Rabbi Emeritus Michael R. Zedek
In July of 2016, Rabbi Michael Zedek became Rabbi Emeritus of Emanuel Congregation in Chicago Illinois. At the same time, he accepted an appointment to serve as (part-time) senior advisor to the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The rabbi began his tenure as senior rabbi of Emanuel in July 2004. For the previous four years, Rabbi Zedek was the Chief Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.
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Prior to accepting that appointment, he served for 26 years as the spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Jehudah in Kansas City, Missouri, where he also holds the title of rabbi emeritus. At the time of his installation in 1976, he was the youngest rabbi in the United States to head a “giant” congregation. With over 1,900 families, B’nai Jehudah is the oldest and largest congregation in Kansas City. Ordained in June of 1974, Zedek was chosen to be alumnus-in-residence at the Cincinnati and Los Angeles campuses of Hebrew Union College (HUC-JIR). Rabbi Zedek is the youngest man to receive this honor.
Rabbi Zedek was the recipient of the Danforth Graduate Fellowship for outstanding teaching, a Fulbright-Hays Grant for advanced study in the United Kingdom and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Hamilton College, Clinton, New York.
In addition to his professional activities, Rabbi Zedek is deeply involved in civic affairs having served on a number of national and international boards.
He has also had numerous teaching and speaking appointments around the world on a wide range of topics, especially focusing on spirituality and folklore. He has taught and lectured in South Africa, Russia, China, the former Yugoslavia, Israel and in many other venues.
Rabbi Zedek is a regular presenter at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. He also serves as the host of a radio show, Religion on the Line, which is currently under consideration for national syndication.
Rabbi Zedek is married to Karen, and they have two daughters, Susan, who is married to Joseph Freudenberg and Betsy, married to Jeremy Viola. They are also the proud grandparents of Samuel Freudenberg, Julia Rose Freudenberg and Max Viola.
Congratulations to our own Rabbi Michael Zedek on the publication of his new children’s book!
You can place your order at this link.
Thanks to the efforts of several amazing tech sophisticated friends, this week marks the launch of his Substack called “The 5 Minute Story Hour.” It developed out of a conversation with an “influencer” who, having read People Are Like… (available on Amazon or from Ascend Books), pushed for more, which marks the beginning of this initiative. Click the link, give it a try, join in and enjoy!
